In the 22 years since it was founded, there has never been a more important moment in the life of Compass. That’s not just due to climate and ecological chaos, nor even the looming reality of a Reform-led government under a Nigel Farage premiership. Much worse than even that, it is people’s evaporating belief that democratic politics can make our collective lives better.
Compass, its staff, its members and its networks have worked tirelessly to change that to show that there is a compelling vision of a Good Society and that the ideas and forces exist to take us on the journey towards it. We were born as an organisation with a belief that politics must be both progressive and plural and in every year, and in every way, we’ve worked to enact that belief and further that cause.
Today, we take another huge step to make our dream of a Good Society a reality. Today we launch Mainstream, a new hopeful and purposeful vehicle to turn the Labour Party back once again to the direction of hope and that more progressive and plural future.
Initiated by Compass, with the support of Open Labour and many others, Mainstream will be an independent vehicle with the sole task of saving the Labour Party from its clear drift to the right and the unintended paving of the way to a Reform government.
Labour will be the government for the next four years, and we can and must make them do the right things and stop them doing the wrong things. And Labour is so much more than the small right-wing clique that currently runs it. The heart and soul of the majority of its members and supporters want that progressive and plural future that we all know is the only way to deliver a better society.
Compass has tried to pull Labour into the 21st century from the outside, showing how to do 21st century politics with ambition and compassion, working across party and civil society lines in elections and campaigns on issues like water ownership and proportional representation. We’ve achieved so much.
But now Labour needs to be pushed from the inside, to ensure that the majority within the party that want to tax wealth, to bring water into public ownership and to ensure that our democratic system is revitalised through the introduction of proportional representation, is heard and heeded. Only then will we unlock the transformation of our country and the possibility of a much more progressive, pluralist future.
No organisation in Labour’s history has ever pulled this kind of coalition together, spanning leading MPs, advisors and activists on the centre right, centre, soft left and hard left of the party.
This is the mainstream.
And so we’ve set up Mainstream, not because we’ve given up on pluralism and cross-party working, but because we believe in it so much and know that Labour can and must be redirected to become a progressive force once more. A party the electorate will turn towards to back tactically and not turn away from. A party willing to work with others to stop the march of nationalistic populism.
Compass will continue to be the home for Labour, Greens, Liberal Democrats and radicals of no party, for cross-party alliances and big civil society mobilizations on key issues like water ownership and more. Mainstream will be the home for everyone in Labour who wants to save the party from dropping even further in the polls and seeing thousands more members leave – a Labour party they can be proud of again.
We could not have done this without you, our amazing Compass members and supporters. You have made this possible.
Today we ask you: support Compass more than ever with everything you’ve got in every way that you can. And if you are a member of the Labour Party or not a member of any other party then please, please join and support Mainstream.
It is not too late, Labour can and must be saved, not just for itself but for the future of progressive politics and our country. There won’t be an alliance to stop Reform that doesn’t include a revitalised and renewed Labour Party.
All of us who want our country to be much more equal, sustainable and democratic – we are the mainstream.
In so much hope and determination,
The Compass Team – its staff and board
As a deeply disappointed and disgruntled Labour member (formerly constituency chair and election agent) I am 100% behind your Mainstream initiative. The risk of fragmenting progressive votes and letting in Farage is becoming acute, and Labour must give voice to its actual support base, not the long-lost red wall who are probably too alienated and aggrieved to be won back any time soon.
I am ready and willing to contribute ideas and writing to Compass and Mainstream if they are wanted.
I finally left the Labour Party recently, the last straw being the PIP cuts for people needing assistance to live their lives with dignity.
I agree with what I’ve read from Compass and Mainstream which seem to be progressive pressure groups on the left of politics